


How To Survive Meeting the Love of Your Life...and Everything Else (Even If You Don't Know It Yet)

by RainyStitch17



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Angst, Dark, Death, Extra angst because Hope's a Mikaelson, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Getting to Know Each Other, Hope Mikaelson Needs a Hug, Jealousy, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Secret Identity, Slow Burn, Tags May Change, The description is shit but the story is slightly less shitty, The typical high school angst, and probably a therapist, attempt at comedy, really really slow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 11:15:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19228054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainyStitch17/pseuds/RainyStitch17
Summary: Legacies - AU.Hope Mikaelson has never had the most normal life. Definitely not the easiest. She's lost her parents, gotten expelled under suspicious circumstances and is stuck navigating a world that she's not even know if she's supposed to be in. Little does she know that a chance encounter at school that starts off rather negative would be the thing, or the person, that changes her life forever...even if is just high school.





	1. Chance Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> Does anybody wanna tell me why I'm starting a new story for the summer when I haven't finished...ANYTHING ELSE???
> 
> No? That's cool. Enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope meets some new people and an old one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New story, new chapter. Enjoy!
> 
> P.S. First ones are always short. I hate it.

The side of Hope's head leaned against the cold window as she blankly stared outside of it. Her brother Marcel was dropping her off to her first day at a new school. The Mystic Falls High School to be specific. Home of the Timberwolves Pride.

Let's just say Hope wasn't counting down the minutes.

"You excited for your first day of school?" Marcel asked interrupting the silence. He'd known how...reluctant Hope had been to start a new school especially after everything that had happened over the summer but he knew that she had to rejoin society at some point. Even if she didn't. 

Hope chewed over her answer while sipping a milkshake she was able to convince Marcel to get her before school started. There was a cute server that she was hoping to see (she still hasn't managed to catch his name) even though she's only seen him less than a handful of times. No such luck though. He wasn't there but at least the milkshake was. Peanut butter blast, whip cream on the bottom. Just how she likes it.

"Yeah, can't wait." She eventually says around her straw blandly. She wants to go back to her old school but that wasn't an option anymore because of the incident. She's lucky an expulsion is all she's dealing with. How could she be so stu-

"You're gonna be fine. You're gonna do great." Marcel encourages while interrupting Hope's thoughts. He glances at her every few moments or so to make sure she's paying attention. She is...usually. Sometimes.

"And how do you know that?" Hope asks, "I could always try to further my reputation as a delinquent. I'm sure Aunty Bex would _love_ that. I know Uncle Kol would."

"Maybe if you feel like being grounded for the rest of your natural born life." Marcel lightly retorts, "And your Uncle...isn't the best example to be following sometimes."

"So you're saying that if I died and became a vampire I could do whatever I want? And you know Davina wouldn't appreciate you saying that about Uncle Kol." Hope quips back. Somehow it actually gets Marcel to laugh a little, showing off those pearly whites that Hope swears sometimes look like actual fangs.

"You are full jokes today huh?"

Hope shrugs.

"Well let's hope that's all you got today because we are here." Marcel says pulling into the school parking lot. As Hope looks out at the school she feels overwhelmingly...underwhelmed. No applause. No nerves. Nothing.

 _"This should be fun."_ Hope thinks making a move to get out of the car before Marcel stops her. "Don't you wanna toss that out first? You don't know the rules about eating in school yet." Marcel warns, motioning to the half finished milkshake. 

Hope shrugs again, adjusting her backpack. "I'm sure it'll be fine. If I get called out I'll play the new girl card and toss it in the trash." It seems to be enough to satisfy her brother because he nods at her and wishes her goodbye and good luck as she closes the car door.

_Thanks. I'll need it._

As Hope crosses the parking lot she spies the students and infrastructure all around her. The place is crawling with students from what she can see. Jocks, cheerleaders, nerds, motorcycle enthusiasts, the works. It's actually a first for Hope because the closest thing she's been to a public high school. All her life she's gone to the Salvatore Boarding School For The Young And Gifted. Her plaid uniform has been replaced with tights, a jean skirt, heeled boots, a purple t-shirt and a corduroy jacket. 

At least that's one perk.

Hope walks around outside until she finally finds the front door. She miraculously was able to dig out her schedule from her backpack without dropping her shake. Annoyingly enough Hope wasn't starting her junior year with rest of everybody else. She was going in a month late. In October. So much more no awkward walking into homeroom in the middle of the school year when cliques had already been established. At least that's what Hope assumed based on the numerous high school movies she watched. She didn't go out much. Now according to the schedule she was supposed to find Room 238 for...economics? Gross. But first she had to go the secretary so that she could meet the student aid that was meant to show her aro-

Within a split second Hope goes from organizing her thoughts to feeling a cold chill on her front. Slowly looking down she sees, and most importantly,  _feels,_ the remains of her milkshake cover the entire front of her purple shirt and spill onto her jean skirt. It even soaks her schedule somehow.

Hope looks up to the bumbling mess in front of her who is saying something but Hope's too angry and shocked to properly hear him. He looks weirdly familiar. The boy in front of her has a mop of black curly hair, pale skin with a green-gray color for his eyes that aren't actually a color. Like if he were wearing green his eyes would look green and _Jesus_ , that is so not important right now.

"-so, so sorry." The boy stutters out, holding out a hand of napkins. Hope snatches them from him. Uselessly dabbing at her shirt.

"Watch it." Hope snaps, "Walk much?" 

The boy kind of just stands there looking awkward and guilty and _useless_. "I-I do. I g-guess I'm just n-nervous. I just saw Connor who you obviously don't know or maybe you do! Not my place to assume. I really didn't mean to-

"Shouldn't you be talking to anyone you know?" Hope asks. She wasn't really expecting an answer for crying out loud. On any other day she'd feel for the kid. Really. But lately her temper has been off the charts and this klutz isn't doing anything to make it better.

"That's easier said than done." The boy mutters but Hope still catches. He looks like he's about to go onto another round of apologies when a small group of people appear. A brunette girl with pigtails and a red, white and black cheerleading outfit walks up to her effectively cutting off the boy.

"I'm sorry." she starts, "You look traumatized. Is this loser bothering you?" She asks pointing to boy. And yes, yes he is but as much as he's bothered her, Hope wouldn't go as far to call him a loser. Especially when with a quick glance she sees his face deflate a bit. And while Hope's never been to a public school before the last school she was in was no picnic either. You had to establish dominance of some kind or risk being dominated. And Hope wasn't one to be easily tamed. She would survive here no matter what. But that did means tough breaks for the kid.

"He spilled my milkshake on me." Hope admits but adds more to the story, "And he keeps trying to get me to buy his mix tape." Hope may be a bit of a recluse but she's not completely oblivious to what goes on in the world. However, a larger part then she liked to admit feels bad about what she's doing. She doesn't look at the kid's face as she lies. Her parents were hardcore survivors, why can't she be too?

 _"If they were such survivors wouldn't they still be alive?"_ Her brain betrays.

Hope hears the girl scoff and brings her attention back to the present. No use living in the past and all it's pain. "Gross." The girl comments, side-eyeing the boy, "Well we're going to breakfast. You hungry?"

She literally just got here and is pretty sure that homeroom is starting soon but the further away she is from this place, the better. What's the harm in being a little late? Marcel and Aunt Rebekah can lecture later.

"Famished." Hope lies and walks away with the girl and her friends not glancing back at the boy she left behind.

 _"I'm sorry."_ She says in her head but it never does make it past her lips.

* * *

Hope learns quickly enough that little Miss Pigtails name is Cheryl and that's she captain of the cheerleading squad. Hope only knows that because Cheryl brings it up at least three times before Hope concedes and agrees to think about joining. Apparently they're down a member. This girl named Dana. She's been on the news a lot lately. That's another thing Cheryl doesn't mind bringing up to someone who's pretty much a stranger; Dana was a friend of hers who died recently or killed, to be accurate. Her body was found in the woods with a giant chunk taken out of her neck. The official diagnosis is that Dana was attacked by a wolf or some other large animal while trying to tag the old school that Hope used to go to. Go figure. Small world. Anyways, the only witness was Dana's friend who is borderline useless because apparently she was too far away and it was too dark to really see what happened to Dana.

Truth be told, Hope didn't even know that there were wolves in Virginia but what else could be said? It wasn't like there was a maniac taking bites out of people's necks around here.

She thinks...she hopes. This place did have a lot of odd deaths going around. It's the one thing she can't seem to escape. The cold and brutal finality of death. But there was no time to think about that right now.

Eventually she gets dragged down to 1116 Clark Street aka, Mystic Grill, making it the second time she's been here today. Maybe she can get a decent meal if she's up for it along with the half milkshake that's become a part of her wardrobe.

"We've never seen you around here before." Cheryl, who's sitting right next to her in the booth they've picked, says. "Are you new here?"

Cheryl and her friends, another girl and boy sitting in front of her (what were their names again?), watch with rapt attention. It's the whole New Girl affect. Either you're treated like you're radioactive or they want to be your best friend and know everything about you because they think you're some sort of mythical creature. Well, Hope has heard her father and his siblings call her grandmother a witch but she doesn't think they meant it in the magical sense.

" 'Friad so." Hope eventually answers.

"Are you new to town too?" Cheryl keeps questioning. Hope's noticed that the other two don't really speak much, at least not when Cheryl's around. It's like they're the extras in their own lives. It's weird.

"No, not really." Hope says, short and simple. She doesn't go further and explain that she's actually from New Orleans but then that would bring up so many questions that Hope doesn't want to answer. At all.

"Well where are you-"

"What looks good to eat here?" Hope interrupts, picking up a menu, before Cheryl can finish her question. She's hoping that the New Girl affect is still working. Cheryl seems to get the gist and picks up a menu of her own. She looks it over quickly before scrunching her nose in dissatisfaction and placing the menu down. "I'm on a diet. I think I'll have a salad and some water. You guys?" Cheryl asks the other two and predictably, they agree with her. Hope's seen Cheryl and she looks great in her opinion. She has no clue why Cheryl's dieting but it's none of her business so she keeps her mouth shut.

Cheryl turns to Hope, "How about you Hope?"

Hope's still scanning over the menu fruitlessly looking for strawberry beignets. They're her favorites. Her father would always spoil her with them whenever he returned from being away for a long time. But it seems the one she likes are native only to New Orleans. Damn her taste.

"I guess I'll have some pancakes. Maybe waffles."

Cheryl nods before snapping her fingers in the air and calling out for a waiter. Hope restrains the urge to roll her eyes because she really, really hates it when people do that. What? Her mother raised her with manners.

Eventually Hope's impatience wins out and she instinctively finds herself reaching out for Cheryl's outstretched hand. "Trust me, they'll come." She says before releasing Cheryl and looking back at her menu. Out of the corner of her eye she sees the two others look slightly shocked as Cheryl actually puts her hand down. For the first time Hope wonders what she's doing here.

True to her word, a waiter comes over minutes later and takes their orders. Hope goes with waffles _and_ pancakes with whip cream because she can't choose while everyone else just gets a salad or nothing.

The other three continue to ask her more questions (even when they get their food), sussing out the new girl and Hope keeps vaguely answering them and distracting them when she doesn't want to.

Overall, they seem to like what Hope lets them see.

* * *

The lot of them get back to school a little before lunch. They've skipped the entire morning and then some. It's 12:17 and apparently lunch starts at 12:30. Open campus. As they're walking down the school hallway Hope wonders why they didn't just stay out for lunch as well but she vaguely remembers Cheryl saying something about getting back to for lunch to discuss cheer practice, or routines or whatever with the rest of her squad at lunch. Hope didn't care enough to ask follow up questions. 

When they part, Cheryl's already given Hope her number along with Jessica's and Davis's (the other two). She tells Hope about cheer tryouts one more time before giving her a pair of sparkly red and black cat ears. Cheryl puts it on her head before Hope can even say anything about it. Cheryl admits for whatever reason that they belonged to Dana before finally saying goodbye and walking away with the others.

Hope could've gone her entire life not knowing that she was wearing a dead girl's cat ears. But still, she doesn't take them off. Maybe the ears make her feel normal. Something she hasn't felt in months, if ever.

Hope's leisurely walking down the hallway waiting for the bell to ring to signal lunch. She wonders if she'll actually stay this time or just hide in the bathroom until the day ends. When she cross hallways she sees another lonely soul walking alone too. And she 100% recognizes the mop of dark curls. Against her better judgement, or maybe for it, she speed walks up to him, her boots clicking on the hard floor.

"Hey." She says, when she finally catches up to him. He looks up in surprise to reveal a headphone in one ear but looks back down at his phone. "Remember me?" She starts, "I'm the girl you covered with her own milkshake? Peanut butter is so not my color by the way." She tries to joke. He reminds her of Eeyore with how somber and serious he looks.

"You also accused me of selling a mix tape. My bad, _trying_ to sell a mix tape." He retorts, still not looking at her. And yes, Hope feels bad about it but it can't be that bad of a situation right?

"About that, I wanted to say sorry. I had no business dragging you into a lie. Or lying at all really." She admits and he doesn't look impressed.

"Whatever." He responds, popping his second headphone in, effectively ending the short conversation. Hope watches him walk away and he doesn't look back either. Soon enough the bell rings and he's lost to a crowd of nameless face. Oh well, she fucked up a bit but a least she tried. A little.

Hope still hasn't made her decision on what she wants to do next and figures she'll wait until the crowd disperses a bit before making her move. The only reason why she can even think off pulling this off without getting in trouble is because thanks to her unique situation, there's no one the school can really call, for the moment until she finally signs those pesky emergency sheets, to inform her of lack of attendance. That is unless they want to wait for one of her relatives to drive all the way from New Orleans to come pick her up. Marcel's only here for the week before he has to go back for work and stuff (running a city as mayor can't be easy) and then she's left alone.

Well, not _alone_ alone but it sure feels like it.

Before she knows it the hallway is empty leaving her standing there like a poor schmutz. Turning around, Hope heads for the doors, her decision already made when she hears and old, familiar voice call out to her.

Hope stops in her tracks. " _No, that can't be."_ Hope thinks, utterly baffled as she turns around.

"Penelope?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed and I'm lazy. Let me know if there are any typos. Get comfortable. I'm gonna take my time with this story.


	2. Playing With Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope temporarily reunites with some old classmates against her will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who has school pride? Hope certainly doesn't.

_"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit."_ Hope panics as her eyes confirm that it is in fact Penelope Park from the Salvatore School. The Penelope Park who actually knows her unlike everybody else. The Penelope Park that's supposed to be in Belgium.

Shit!

With some minuscule luck, Hope spies a bathroom up ahead on her left. She has no idea if it's boys or girls and she doesn't even care. She just hopes it's empty and wastes no time catching up to Penelope and dragging her into the bathroom with her. She walks around the bathroom peering at the bottom of the stalls to see any feet. She doesn't and is happy to know that it is in fact the girls room.

"Hope? What the hell are you doing here?" Penelope asks while Hope scans for a second time. She's paranoid like that. "And why the hell are we in the bathroom and _what is on your head?_ "

Hope rolls her eyes before snatching the ears off her head. "I should be asking you the same thing! I could've sworn that Belgium was in Europe and not Mystic Falls. Does Josie even know you're here?"

Penelope's face falls for a split second before rearranging itself back into it's resting bitch mode, "Not you business and I asked you first." Penelope crosses her arms and Hope raises an eyebrow.

"Really? 'I asked you first.' That's the best you've got?" Hope questions, mimicking the other girl. Going as far as to cross her arms too. "Nice lob by the way."

Penelope scrunches her nose up, "Thanks. Didn't really have much a choice."

"Oh yeah I know. I remember the great hair fire." Hope retorts. Months ago, when Hope and Penelope had both attended the Salvatore School together, Penelope had gotten into a fight or something with her on again, off again ex girlfriend, Josie Saltzman. There had been a party one night in the woods and the only reason Hope had gone out was because she needed some air. It was a campfire themed party which was really stupid looking back on it. Anyways, Hope had been walking by and noticed the two exes arguing. Everybody else either wasn't paying attention or didn't care until Penelope's...accident. Whatever had been said resulted in Josie pushing Penelope to the ground and stomping off. Now no one had seen Josie push Penelope except Hope. What people did see (and hear) was Penelope screaming and rolling around on the ground because her formerly long hair had been just a bit too close to one of the campfires.

It took three people to put her out.

Penelope left school a few months later because she was moving to Belgium.

At least that's what Hope had heard. She wasn't really tapped into the school's gossip. Especially when a good portion of it was about her.

Clearly Belgium didn't stick.

"So are you gonna tell me what you're doing here or not?" Hope presses. The two girls stare each other down before Penelope lazily rolls her eyes and relents. "Turns out that all girls school in Belgium wasn't the best fit for me."

"That's code for 'something happened'. So what happened?" Hope pushes.

"There may have been a little incident with a small fire..."

Clearly there's more to the story. Hope raises an eyebrow and makes a 'go on' gesture with her hand.

"...And a girl's hair." Penelope begrudgingly finishes. Hope has to fight the urge to snort because that is irony at it's best. "Okay. That explains not going to the school but not leaving the country. I'm sure Belgium has more than one high school so why are you back?"

"That's my business don't you think? Besides it's your turn." Penelope says. "It's only fair."

Hope's quiet for a moment before speaking. "...You're not the only who's getting expelled these days."

"Oooh. Little miss can do no wrong, Princess Hope Marshall got expelled? What'd you do?"

Hope smirks, "Like you said, it's my business."

Penelope stands there looking like she wants to push further before deciding to drop the subject. Smart choice. "Whatever. I don't know about you but I try not to eat and piss in the same place. See you around Marshall." Hope waits till Penelope leaves before letting out a big exhale.

Marshall.

Seventeen years and she's still not used to being called that. Absolutely no disrespect to her mother but Hope knows deep down that she's a Mikaelson, not a Marshall. Unfortunately, the last name Mikaelson comes with a lot of bad omens and a lot of bad luck. For her general safety, Hope has to go by Hope Marshall instead of her birth name, Hope Mikaelson. As much as Hope dislikes it - it feels like she's trying to disown her father which she is not - she craves her anonymity even more. It's better this way.

Or that's what she keeps telling herself.

Hope exits the bathroom feeling a heavy weight. She just wants to not think about how depressing her life is. Is that too much to ask? Before she can think about it too much she makes her way down to the cafeteria where most of the students still on campus are. Even through the hordes of people Hope is still able to spot Cheryl through the crowd. Predictably, she's sitting with Hope assumes is the rest of the cheer squad and some jocks in the center of the cafeteria. Hope puts the cat ears back on and plasters a fake, small smile on her face before making her way over. Cheryl's mid conversation before she notices Hope making her way over.

"Hope! Join us!" She says, shoving some random person away so that Hope has room to sit next to her.

"Thanks." Hope says, sitting down.

"Let me introduce you to my friends." There are way too many names to remember. Hope's still having a hard time remembering ~~Jennifer and David~~ _Jessica and Davis._ Yeesh. But what she gathers from the meet and greet are that the only people that Cheryl actively hangs out with are Jessica, Davis, (who's she's already met), Connor (a dirty blonde, green-eyed, self proclaimed ladies man even though Hope can tell he's just a jerk) and Sasha (bestie of the dead girl Dana).

"So are you gonna join the Cheer Squad?" Sasha asks. It one of the few times that she actually speaks. She seems to be the only one who genuinely looks hurt whenever Dana's name is brought up.

But what is with this Cheer Squad? Like, is it a cult? Do they need her soul? Her blood? Is that why they keep asking so much? Of course Hope doesn't actually voice her opinions on the topic, "Oh, I don't know. I just got here. Maybe I should look around for a bit."

"Nonsense." Cheryl disagrees, playfully hitting Hope on the arm, "I'm sure you'll fit in great."

Hope's about to refuse again when she actually lets herself think about it. What's the worse that could happen? She does a cartwheel wrong? She's actually pretty handy in the athletics and flexibility department and it would keep her busy with something to do.

And maybe, just maybe this would be the thing that made her feel normal.

"Sure." Hope relents, "Why not?"

Cheryl lets out a little cheer. 

"Awesome. There's a quick meeting after school today. We can get your measurements for uniforms and everything then."

Hope nods along. Then everybody keeps on talking like everybody is fine and Hope just keeps on nodding when appropriate.

* * *

Seeing as she's skipped the majority of her first day, Hope doesn't see much point in attending the rest of school. Granted she can't leave without a reasonable explanation so she just stays outside and lingers for the remaining few hours. Cheryl offers to stay but Hope insists that she's fine alone.

Eventually Hope picks a shaded space with a large tree on the grass to sit and relax at. Weirdly enough she only has one teacher scare and it's not even a teacher. It's milkshake boy. She should really figure out his name so she can stop giving him nicknames. They make awkward eye contact as he's walking past. Hope has no idea if he's skipping too but she definitely knows that she knows him from _somewhere_. She takes out a notebook from her bag and starts doodling random things. She doesn't even notice that she's fallen asleep until a foot is lightly pushing against her, waking her up.

"Wakey, wakey Hope. School's over." 

Hope looks up through her grogginess and is nearly blinded by the sun before she sees that it's Penelope looking down at her.

"What do you want Penelope?" Hope asks, cutting straight to the point.

"Heard you joined the cheerleading team." Penelope mentioned, her voice sickly sweet.

"Your point?"

"Oh, nothing. You'll find out soon enough."

After Hope finished putting away her stuff she stood up, facing Penelope at eye level. Thank God the other girl was short too. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't you have a practice to get to?" Penelope asks before walking away with a smile on her face.

Hope's eyes widened. Shit! The meeting! Hope completely forgot and she doesn't even know where to go. Quicker than she thought she was capable of in heels, Hope ran into the school hoping she could ask the secretary or someone where the cheer team met up. However, instead of getting valuable information all Hope got was another chest collision with a stranger. But instead of getting a drink poured all over her she went as far as to actually take the person down with her.

"Ow." The two of them groaned. Hope was very much aware of the passing students snickering as they passed and the fact that she was literally on top of someone.

"Do you mind getting off of me? I think your elbow is in my spleen." The voice underneath her says. Hope's cheeks inflame as she scrambles to get off the boy. She ends up sitting next to them on the floor in her attempt.

"Wow, you must really be upset about that milkshake." The boy goes. Hope allows herself to properly look at her victim and sure enough it's the emo boy from before. She lets out a short, awkward laugh, a chuckle really, before responding.

"No! I mean...yes but I wouldn't tackle you for it." Hope explains as he sits up.

"You wanna just call it even and just get up off the ground? Who knows when the last time these floors have been cleaned."

"Ew." Hope starts before noticing the look on his face and back peddling, "I mean deal."

After the two of them are upright they just stand there awkwardly in silence until the boy breaks it.

"You looked like you were in a rush."

"I am actually. Do you know where the cheer squad meets up?"

The guy lightly scoffs to himself before responding, "Yeah, I unfortunately do. You're looking for the gym."

"Thanks." Hope says before walking away only to stop in her tracks to turn right back around. "Um..."

The guy hasn't moved from his spot. "You need me to show you where it is?" He guesses.

"If you don't mind." 

The guy takes the lead into showing Hope where the gym is. During the short walk Hope learns that his name is actually Landon. She likes it. When they get to the gym Hope had just finished asking if he was skipping too.

"Not exactly." He answers and it's clear that he's not going to elaborate.

"Well...I guess I'll see you around Landon. You try to stay clear of milkshakes." She tries to joke despite knowing how well it went over last time. Surprisingly, it gets a small huff of laughter from him.

"And you save all the tackling for football tryouts. See you, Hope."

Hope watches him walk away and wonders if she'll see him again. She kind of hopes so.

"Hope! There you are!" A voice calls out and Hope already knows that it's Cheryl. Hope walks forwards and joins everybody in the middle of the gym.

"I'm only gonna let this slide for today because you're new but we do not tolerate lateness. You've gotta show you're committed." Cheryl chastises. Hope could give her the excuse of falling asleep outside and accidentally taking down Landon but she decides to keep it to herself and say a simple sorry.

"Anyways," Cheryl starts, "like I was saying, tomorrow is game day and as cheerleaders we are all forced to play and support it which should be no problem since we always beat those Salvatore Suckers."

Wait, what?

"Wait, what?" Hope repeats out loud and Cheryl goes on a whole thing about the annual football game with the Salvatore School and how they always win. Now, Hope didn't care about that part. She already knew thst. The part she did care about was the fact that due to Dana's death they were having the game earlier instead of in November for Thanksgiving as a little pick me up before Halloween. Also the fact that now that Hope was a cheerleader she was now forced to play. Which meant seeing her old classmates again. Which meant her new life imploding before it even begun.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no...

"So we all have to play?" Hope asks again for the second time.

"Technically no. Some just end up cheering for our school but yes, we all have to show our faces but don't worry. We'll crush them like a bug so easily that it'll be over in no time." Cheryl answers, under the assumption that she's being helpful. Meanwhile, Hope is panicking internally. Any time with her old school is too much time. How is she going to get out of this?

"Okay, that's all I really wanted to say but Hope, you stay so you can get fitted for your uniforms and I can show you a few moves." Cheryl announces.

* * *

A couple measurements and a few herkies later (Hope's legs are gonna kill her for not stretching later) and Hope is outside waiting for her ride. Marcel was meant to pick her up after school but Hope had texted that she needed a ride a bit later. Too bad she didn't have a specific time because now she had to wait. 

At about 3:40 instead of seeing the jeep that Marcel had rented for the week Hope sees a black Ford Fiesta and knows that it's not her brother that's picking her up but Caroline, her father's former semi-unrequited flame and her ex-headmaster. What fun.

The car stops in front of her and Caroline honks signaling for her to get in. Hope obeys but chooses to sit in the back. It's less awkward. Once she's settled and buckled up Caroline waits until they hit the first red light before speaking. Hope has to give her props. She thought Caroline would break way before then.

"So how was school?" Caroline asks.

Hope shrugs, "Fine, I guess."

"You make any friends?"

Yes? No? "I met some people."

Caroline smiles, she seems surprised. Like she expected Hope to spend the day avoiding everybody. Well she's not entirely wrong. "Good! That's good! You mark my words you'll be the most popular person in no time. It's that Mikaelson charm."

 _"That charm didn't seem to work so much with my dad on you."_ Hope wants to stay but keeps quiet. It wouldn't be fair to take jabs at Caroline when none of this mess was technically her fault. Hope's expulsion at the Salvatore School had to be unanimous given the relationship between her parents and the headmasters and the whole situation as a whole. Besides, after Hope had decided that she wanted to stay in Mystic Falls to feel closer to her dad, Caroline had been kind enough to offer to let her stay in her family home and watch over her while she attended school. Hope's just glad that the lawsuit didn't stop her from moving across states.

"Where's my brother?" Hope finally asked.

"Oh, he was stuck on the phone taking care of some problem down in New Orleans. I think there might've been a riot. He just couldn't get off the phone."

Hope nods silently even though she's pretty sure that Caroline can't see her.

"You wanna go to the Mystic Grill and get some takeout for dinner?" Caroline offers.

"No thanks, I've had my fill." Hope quickly denies.

"Huh?"

Hope curses herself. Too much information. "I mean, I'm just not hungry." Luckily, that seems to be enough for Caroline to let the subject drop.

When they arrive to Caroline's house Hope goes straight to Caroline's old room only detouring once to say hi to Marcel who's still on the phone. She changes from her still packed suitcase and crashes onto the bed despite knowing what she'll see in her dreams and not wanting tomorrow to come.

* * *

Hope wakes up with the sun in her eyes and an alarm going off in her ear and there's only one thought going through her head. 

_Today's gonna suck._

After she gets ready in a zombie like state Hope goes to the kitchen and grabs a bowl of cereal and Marcel joins her near the sink.

"Hey kiddo." He greets, "I'm sorry I couldn't pick you up yesterday. And by they time I got off the phone you were asleep."

Hope shrugs. She's been doing that a lot lately. "It's okay. Being the mayor doesn't just stop being your job if I need a ride. Plus Mrs. Salv- Caroline picked me up." 

"So how was school?" Marcel asks over his own bowl.

"Fine. Average. Boring." Shut up Mikaelson. One adjective is enough.

"Anything interesting happen?"

"Nope."

Marcel side-eyes her. "Really? Because a friend of Caroline's swears that they saw you at the Mystic Grill a second time that day in the morning after I dropped you off at school."

Hope freezes and Marcel is full on staring her down.

"...Small world." Hope eventually says.

"HOPE!"

"I'm sorry!" Hope admits, putting down her bowl, "I didn't plan it! In fact, I even went back to school! But the second I walked in there was this kid and he crashed into me and then this girl came up and was all like 'breakfast?' and I said sure because I didn't know what else to say and I know that's not a good excuse but I did it and the damage is done and I'm. Sorry." 

Marcel doesn't say anything after Hope's mini rant. She's breathing heavily after only getting a little bit of the pressure off her chest. There's still the whole game day problem.

"I'm not saying that skipping school is okay," Marcel starts off slowly, "because it isn't and lying to me definitely isn't and yes, omission is still lying. But, if for some reason, a good one, you just can't handle school one day...you can tell me. You can tell me anything you want. I don't want there to be any secrets between us. Agreed?"

Hope nods, "Agreed."

"Promise me. Old fashion."

Hope rolls her eyes but smiles as the two of them do a pinky promise that ends with them kisses their thumbs. Her brother's a dork but she doesn't know what she'd do without him.

"Alright. Hurry up and finish. I'm dropping you off soon and you better stay there the entire day this time. No more walk-outs."

Now _that's_ something Hope couldn't promise. Especially not today. 

* * *

When Hope walks into school for her second day (technically first) she expects to run into Cheryl and her squad first. Or even Landon.

Not Penelope.

"Hey girly." Penelope greets after mysterious appearing at her side. Hope's known her for years and she still can't figure out how she's does that. Not to mention that Hope's pretty sure that Penelope put a tracking chip or something on her while they were in the bathroom.

"She-devil." Hope responds.

"You ready to seize the day?"

"I will be once you're gone."

"I can't silly. I'm you're tour guide." Hope would've been a lot more okay with that if Penelope didn't have the most vindictive smile on her face when she said that but Hope won't be intimidated by her. Have you met her family?

"Goodie. You can tell me where my homeroom and classes are." Hope says with finality before taking the lead in their walk, forcing Penelope to follow. 

"You're right about one of those things. We're spending most of the morning in our homerooms then hopping on a bus to the good ole Salvatore School for nice game of football." Penelope's voice gets significantly flatter towards the end of the sentence.

"You clearly don't wanna go." Hope points out, "So why are you?"

"Why are you?" Penelope fires back, "You're less enthusiastic than I am."

Like Penelope, Hope avoids answering the question. "Are you gonna answer all my questions with questions?"

"Depends on the question."

"Why do you even care? You've shown me more attention in the past two days than you have in the past two years." Hope asks prompting Penelope to stop walking. The tanner girl steps closer to Hope getting into her personal space before leaning in and tilting her head so that her mouth was directly in front of Hope's ear.

"Some people just wanna watch the world burn."

She steps away smiling and points behind Hope. "Here's your homeroom." Hope turns around to see a door with a window and kids through the window. She turns back around only to find that Penelope was gone.

That girl always did freak Hope out a bit, she decides before walking in.

The homeroom teacher is a nice old lady who's clearly just doing it for the paychecks. She calls Hope 'Pope' three times before Hope gives up and signs the teacher's attendance sheet herself. Afterwards she sits down at the closest desk in the back of the room and is content with just waiting for her impending doom silently.

It lasts about thirty seconds.

"Hey Hope." Connor (?) one of the boys she met yesterday at lunch says. She watches as he shoos away someone who was already sitting next to her and she decides right there and then that she probably isn't going to like this kid.

"Hi." She returns shortly.

"You ready for the game?" He asks, clearly looking for a conversation. Hope's barely looking at him but when she does she can see the semi-considerable effort he's putting into not looking at her breasts. What. A. Gentleman.

"Yup."

"You know, you're always welcome to sit next to me on the bus." Connor offers, slimy "charm" oozes off him. He's like those gross door-to-door salesmen you see on t.v. in old movies. At this point Hope deliberately turns her neck to face him just so that she can look him in the eyes when she says this: "Don't you think your _girlfriend_ Sasha would want to sit next to you?" 

Connor just shrugs like it's no big deal and maybe it's not but Hope's getting the feeling that it just...is. "She won't mind." Connor turns in his chair and leans towards Hope, "I'm sure she would understand that I'm just helping out a new student."

Helping her what? Find a seat? Somehow she thinks she'll manage and she wants to tell him so but doesn't want to rock the boat just quite yet. But she does allow herself to lean towards Connor as well, getting real close to look as if she's hypnotized by him. And taking a play out of Penelope's book she tilts her head to the side. "I'm good."

Hope smirks at the disappointed look on Connor's face and watches as he gets up. "You just let me know if you change your mind." He says, trying to reclaim his cool. Hope doesn't even bother responding and Connor walks away.

If being a part of the cheer team means hanging out with people like Connor she might have to rethink the decision. The things she's willing to put herself through for a sense of normalcy. Soon enough Hope gets bored of just waiting around so she pulls out her notebook and looses herself in her drawings. Before she knows it the overhead announcements were telling the classrooms on her floor to go down to the cafeteria to be put into buses.

When she's on the bus she actually has a bit of a hard time deciding where to sit. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Cheryl and her friends sitting closer to the back. She starts to walk over to them when she also sees Connor with them looking far too satisfied. Hope halts and looks for another place to sit when she sees a familiar mop of curls. 

_Landon._

In a split decision, Hope decides to sit in the middle of the bus next to Landon who, initially seems surprised to see her but doesn't even bother taking off his headphones.

"Mind if I sit here?" She asks with no clue if he can even hear her. For a moment he does nothing but stare at her a little confused and she thinks she'll have to repeat herself but then he just shrugs. "I'm cool if you and you're friends are."

"They'll be fine." Hope reassures. She does sit up and turn towards the back to see a disgruntled Cheryl and Connor for very different reasons she's sure. Playing the part of clueless new girl, Hope just shrugs and tries to look apologetic as if she had no choice but to sit down. She turns back around when she believes that they're satisfied only to get a face full of Penelope in front of her.

Yep. Penelope definitely chipped her.

The girl in question is sitting in front of her but is turned around and standing on her knees to talk to Hope. "Maybe you'll be my bus buddy when we come back." She teases.

"If we lose," and Hope knows they won't because the Salvatore School has their reasons for losing on purpose, "then sure."

Meanwhile Landon hasn't said a word, preferring to look out the window and just listen to his music. That's fine with Hope because all she wants to do is take out her notebook, draw and pretend that her life isn't going to go to shit again in about twenty minutes.

So she does.

And it's kinda perfect.

* * *

Exiting the bus and returning to her old school is such a foreign feeling. It's like returning to a home she was kicked out of. Nostalgia threatens to overwhelm her but her paranoia seems to be winning. Her entire plan is to keep her head down and get through this stupid game as quick as possible. Landon seems to have the right idea. He hasn't even taken off his headphones or pulled down his hood. He's not even wearing school colors unlike Hope who was told in a morning text by Cheryl to wear something red and black. 

She obeyed and the outcast part of her is kind of regretting it.

Hope makes sure to hide behind a group of kids as they make their way down the to the field. She's hoping that she'll be lost in a sea of faces and that no one will recognize her. The plan goes to shit in about five seconds as fucking Cheryl grabs her arm and drags her all the way to front of the line where most of the cheerleaders are. Hope has a clear view of everyone which is very bad because that means that they have a clear view of her too.

"What are you doing hiding back there?" Cheryl asks, "You look great. Except I'd tie that shirt into a crop top because it can get really hot with all the running around despite it being October."

Like a robot, Hope follows her command. Not because she actually cares what her shirt looks like but her brain is focused on so many other things right now and her hands are kinda just doing what they want.

"Have you ever played football before?"

Hope shakes her head.

"Okay. There's no need to be nervous. Like I said before, we always crush it so just watch for the few plays and jump in later yeah?"

 _"Or jump in never."_ Hope adds in her head.

Cheryl leads her to where the Mystic Falls High School's stand is located. She sees Penelope sitting on a bench looking over a clipboard and figures out that she got out of playing by agreeing to be one of the score keepers. Lucky bitch. Hope curses but she knows that Penelope planned it. But why plot to come to some lame high school-

"Hope?" A voice asks behind her. And Hope hates that she knows who it is before she even has to turn around. One of the few advantages that Hope has on her side is that during her time at the Salvatore School she didn't exactly use it making friends. By all means she wasn't deliberately mean but she wasn't warm and welcoming either. Not many people really know her but the ones who do seem to be able to spot her from a mile away.

"Hi Josie." Hope weakly greets. Josie's parents are headmasters of the school. While Dr. Saltzman and Mrs. Salv-CAROLINE, are more professional than this is one of their daughters she's talking about. Who knows what Josie knows.

"Do you go to Mystic High now?" Josie says, clearly feeling a bit uncomfortable. She's not the only one. "You kinda disappeared after...after uh..."

 _"I was disgracefully banished?"_ Hope thinks but takes mercy and stops the girl from having to finish her sentence.

"Um...yep." Hope lamely answers, "Go Timberwolves."

"This is a bit weird isn't it?" Josie admits with a small smile. Josie's always been nice even if her twin isn't. Speaking of which...

"Where's Lizzie? I thought you guys always traveled as a pair?" Hope lightly pokes.

"She's here. She just had to go to he bathroom. She's even QB1 this year." Josie says but Hope notices that she keeps looking past Hope to something over her shoulder. Hope turns her head and the only thing behind her that could warrant Josie's attention is Penelope and it suddenly clicks. Maybe that's why Penelope came today. To see Josie or at least check up on her. Those two always were weirdly protective of each other, dating or not. Well...until the last break up that is. Hope wonders if Penelope wants Josie to find out if she's here.

One way to find out.

"You know that Penelope's here too?" Hope ever so casually mentions and it feels just like the mix tape situation from yesterday. It's deceitful and mean and Hope definitely has no place stepping into their very private business but it's like she just can't help her impulse. And as sweet as Josie is, if she doesn't get away from Hope soon Hope might have a mini heart attack.

"She is?" Josie asks, shocked to have her suspicions confirmed."I thought she was in-"

"Belgium?" Hope interrupts, "Well she was and now she's not. Why don't you go talk to her?" Hope practically shoves the other girl towards her ex and she feels bad about it but her sense of self preservation is overshadowing her guilt.

Hope faintly wonders if that's something she should be worried about.

True to her word, Cheryl was right when she said that Hope was free to just sit on the side lines and watch the game. It was easy to pretend that she was actively paying attention. She just had to cheer when her team cheered. She messed up a few times and clapped a bit for her former school but sue her, she was adjusting. During the game she kept an eye out for Landon and his curls but never saw him even once. It's like he just disappeared. Weird but Hope kind of wishes that he took her with him wherever he went. However, she did see Connor during every break when he went over to kiss Sasha. During one of the more...affectionate ones he opened his eyes and looked straight at Hope before smirking and running back into the field.

He's definitely on her asshole list.

Connor gets his just desserts though when Hope's old classmate, Kaleb, pretty much body slams him into the ground. She's pretty sure she even hears a crunch along with Connor's whimpers but she's not totally surprised. Connor practically screams "punch me" with his attitude and Kaleb never was for the 'lose on purpose' strategy no matter the reasons. Hope watches in half intrigue as Connor is carried off the court and Kaleb is forced to sit out for the rest of the game. He probably has a detention or two as well. Hope notices that Dr. Saltzman isn't here and that Dorian, the school's archiver and librarian, was acting as his substitute coach.

What gets her full attention is the Mystic High coach constantly whistling in her direction. It takes a minute for her to figure out that's he's talking to _her_. Instinctively, she shakes her head and tells the coach what she told Cheryl but the coach is insistent the fact that everybody who had signed up to play was already on the field, cheering with the cheerleaders, filling up water bottles, catching stray balls or was injured.

And that was how Hope found herself padded up and standing in the middle of the field facing her old team. She was looking straight at M.G. if she was being specific. On the sidelines she sees Penelope sitting with her legs crossed and a smirk on her face giving her a mocking thumbs up. Hope ignores her.

The only reason that Hope hadn't lost it by now was because everybody had clearly been too focused on the game to really pay attention to her but now that she was playing front and center everybody had no choice _but_ to notice her.

 _"All you gotta do is catch the ball and run to the opposite goal if the ball comes near you. That's all you gotta do."_ Hope repeats the coach's words in her head like a mantra hoping to drown out the crowd's voices along with her own. Catch and run. Catch and run. Catch and run.

Her mantra works for the last twenty minutes of the game. Somehow, someway her new teammates are able to keep the ball away from her. Maybe they can sense her hesitation or maybe Cheryl told them something. Whatever it is, Hope just wants it to keep working.

But then Josie flubs up a toss and instead of it sailing all the way to M.G. it's hurtling at a surefire speed towards Hope. For a moment the girl considers not catching it but quickly dismisses the idea because not only would it put her in the doghouse at her school but it would bring her more attention than not. So reluctantly, Hope stretches out her arms and lets her reflexes catch the ball. Her feet are quick to follow as she sprints down the field heading for the goal. Tunnel vision is her friend and it's just her, the ball and the goal until she finally reaches that strip of white and in the distance she can hear her side going wild. Even the Salvatore side of the bleachers are cheering a bit and for the first time all day Hope feels a surge of pride and joy instead of shame and fear. It's nice and light and good and it follows her as she makes her way back down the field to regroup with everybody else. And random fact: Cheryl was right. Hope doesn't even remember the last time she sweat so much

It's when she returns that it all turns to shit.

Just when Hope's on the cusp of rejoining the general area somebody from the Salvatore side of the field stands up and screams at her from the stands but she can't tell who it is. There's too many people.

"MURDERER!"

And then Hope feels three water balloons hit her. Two in the back and one in the front. Maybe even a fourth. Everything feels like it's happening in slow motion as Hope watches the football fall out of her hands and sees nothing but red paint splattered all over her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Typos. Please lemme know if you see them.


	3. Run-a-way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penelope helps Hope deal with the aftermath of what happened at the game. Hope says goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya. "Hope" you enjoy.

Hope stood there on the field completely frozen. The whole world turned to nothing, leaving her alone with nothing but blood on her hands.

 _"Except there's not really blood on your hands."_ Hope tries to rationalize, _"It's just paint."_

_**Liar.** You know what you did. Your hands are dripping in red. They always have been._

Hope feels her eyes burn as tears start to fall down her face. She had no idea when she started crying but now she couldn't stop. It was like the dam that held in all her emotions for the past few months had finally broken.

And she was drowning in the aftermath.

Hope had completely forgotten about the rest of the world until she felt a pair of hands grab her by the arms. Instinctively she pulled away. What if it was the person who screamed murderer? What if they had more balloons? But the person kept reaching for her until they grabbed her face and forced her to look at her. Through her tears Hope could make out Penelope's unclear face. She was speaking but Hope could barely make it out.

"-listening to me?"

"-gotta get out of here."

What?

Penelope shook her head, wrestling two different opinions in her head before taking another glance at Hope and making up her mind. Penelope released Hope's face only to grab one of her hands and proceeded to drag her away from the field. It started off as a speed walk but quickly turned into full on running. But where were they going? The only thing in Penelope's direction was the forest. Hope decided that she was okay with that. She'd go just about anywhere if it meant getting away from everybody else.

It was a miracle that neither of the two managed to trip and fall on their face as they stumbled through the rocky, woodland area. Their legs burned as they ran but Penelope wouldn't let them stop until she was satisfied with the distance between them and the field. Turns out she wouldn't be satisfied for five more minutes until they reached a small stream running through the area. Penelope, as lightly as she could (sort of), pushed Hope toward the stream, wordlessly telling her to rinse herself off. Hope was hesitant for a moment but it wasn't like there were any five star bathrooms around. Slowly, she fell to her knees and peeled off her shirt, disgusted by the feel of the drying paint. It made her shirt cling to her like a second skin. After dropping her shirt to the ground, Hope surveyed the damage. Her entire arms were stained and her stomach was covered in red. She watched it drip down her waist to her legs. Silently, Hope curses Cheryl for telling her to tie her shirt. Maybe there would been less of a mess to clean up if she hadn't.

As Hope cleaned herself up in the stream she paid no attention to the fact that Penelope could see her in her black bra. From the looks of it, Penelope didn't care either as she had taken a spot on the ground against a tall tree. She sat there with her eyes clothes and Hope could see the repeated, exaggerated rise and fall of her chest. Looks like Hope wasn't the only one who was breathless from their unexpected run. Penelope also had some red on her hands. It must've gotten on her when she grabbed Hope. Hope tried to ignore the stab of guilt of she felt from dragging Penelope into this mess and just focused on cleaning herself off with her shirt. It was already a lost cause for the day so it could handle being a makeshift sponge. Her only saving grace was the fact that her jeans were black and the red didn't show on them. 

The two of them sat in the forest quietly. Neither one of them bothering to start a conversation. Hope couldn't bring herself to say thank you because she yet to know Penelope's motives - there usually was one with her - and Penelope couldn't bring herself to ask any questions because she had no idea where to start. It was clear that she had missed quite a lot during her time in Belgium. For an unknown amount of time the only things that could be heard was the wind, the stream and all the little woodland creatures. It was almost peaceful. Almost.

"Are you done yet?" Penelope finally made herself ask, "We should get a move on it."

"Yeah, just a second." Hope answered, grimacing as she looked at her sopping wet shirt. She squeezed it in her hands as hard as she could but air-drying would have to do the rest of the job. Hope shivered as she put on her shirt. She was pretty positive that the outline of her bra was far more visible now but it wasn't like she could make a shirt out of leaves at the moment.

"So what do we do now?" Hope asked Penelope, who slowly picked herself off of the ground, stretching as she moved towards her.

"Well, schools out. For us at least so I guess we just...go home. Especially since you clearly need a new shirt." Penelope said causing Hope to instinctively cross her arms over her breasts. Just because you can see them doesn't mean that you have to call her out on it. 

Penelope started to lead the way out of the forest until she saw Hope hesitate. "Something wrong?"

Hope looked up, her appearance akin to a deer caught in the headlights. "N-no. No."

"Do you not want to go home? Then again it might be hard for you to go home home since you're from New Orleans."

Confusion took over Hope's face. "How did you know-"

"I have my ways." Penelope interrupted with a sly smile, "You wanna go to my house?"

Despite her confusion and cautiousness, Hope knew her answer in seconds. It was confirming it out loud that took a little longer.

"Um...yeah. Sounds good."

* * *

So.

Penelope's house.

It's not what Hope is expecting.

By no means is it a bad house. In fact, it's actually quite spectacular. From the minute you see the drive way the first sight is a freshly cut lawn, a clean driveway and a straight brick pathway to a large, brightly lit house. Even the opening doorway is beautiful with it's roman columns and archway. The inside is even more beautiful than the outside from what Hope's seen. Surround sound tv, multiple bedrooms (she guesses) a large kitchen, an inside gym with a backyard pool as a view. It's borderline perfect.

And yet, there's something oddly cold about this house.

And this is coming from someone who's childhood home was called The Compound which tends to translate to "prison."

But to each their own she guesses.

And Hope's not entirely surprised by Penelope's living situation considering her personality. Distant, sneaky, slightly (okay, maybe more than slightly) manipulative, driven. The scenery matched the girl and Penelope's parents. Granted, Hope has to assume on that last part. Penelope's parents were one of the few parents to visit their daughter even less than Hope's did. And Hope's dad spent seven years aware from her but that's something she doesn't feel like thinking about. Today's been a shit enough day, no need to bring up old childhood trauma. Like she was saying, Hope has met Penelope's parents less than a handful of time. They were extraordinary...but also average. Like they were no Mother Theresa and Gandhi but they were more lively than a cold cut statue which, coincidentally, also was a decorative feature in their main hallway.

"Lucky for us, my parents aren't home." Penelope mentioned as she locked her front door, "Pretty sure explaining the situation would be more trouble than it's worth. I'm not sure if anything I have will fit you since you know," Penelope made a circling gesture around her chest, "but I think I might have something." Hope wordlessly nodded and followed her up the stairs to Penelope's room. Hope appreciated Penelope's (unexpected) kindness but if she was being honest, all she really wanted to do was get out of her stiff or wet clothes, take a shower, and fall asleep to her playlist at home in bed. 

But she didn't have a home.

Not anymore, she thinks.

Not since the police deemed it a crime scene. A technicality that Hope still doesn't understand.

She wonders how that investigation is going.

No one tells her anything anymore.

Not that they ever did.

"Welcome to casa de Penelope." Penelope says before exaggeratedly opening her bedroom door. Hope walks in and surveys the room around her. The walls are purple, lilac to be more specific. The floors are hardwood like everything else she's seen. There's a bay window with some pillows thrown haphazardly on it. The window's been left slightly open which explains the mini chill. there was a large, circular black and white stripped rug on the floor and half of it was underneath a large, queen sized unmade bed which was also in front a large flat screen that hung above a dresser. It was a typical girl's room for the most part. Hope thinks the most shocking thing about it was that it was so messy. Hope always imagined Penelope's home life to be as prim and proper as her school life. Then again, Penelope did love chaos so maybe this was to be expected.

"Will this work?" Penelope asked, lazily holding up a large grey t-shirt. Hope was a bit surprised to see Penelope own something so...casual. Hope's never thought about Penelope sleeping but she wouldn't have been surprised if someone had told her that Penelope slept in a suit. Or maybe that suited the Saltzman twins more.

"Yeah, thanks." Hope said, accepting the shirt.

"Bathroom's over there if you want some privacy." Penelope responded, pointing to a white door on the other side of the room. She had her own bathroom. Hope wasn't surprised. The bathroom was as clean and pristine as it could be. It looks like Penelope's messiness doesn't extend to her place of cleanliness. Meanwhile, Hope was the total opposite. Her old bedroom's bathroom looked like a tornado hit it most mornings. Hurricane Hope her mom and Aunt Freya would call her.  She wonders how her aunt is doing. She hasn't physically seen her in awhile.

When Hope finishes changing, the shirt fits like a large pillowcase mind you, she leaves the bathroom to see Penelope laying on the floor of all places, mindlessly scrolling through her phone. She's changed too into a dark turquoise shirt with sleeves that stops at her forearms, jeans and boots. She looks the most...lounge-like than Hope's ever seen her. Call her crazy but Hope's starting to think that public school life might be starting to suit her.

"Thanks for the shirt." Hope says both to say her grace and announce her presence. She doesn't really know what to do next but is seems like Penelope has that handled too.

"No problem. Hey, you wanna see a movie? I'm checking stuff that's available right now and it's not bad. Especially if you're into superheroes like M.G." Penelope casually mentions on the floor. Hope snorts out a small laugh. "I don't think anyone's into superheroes like M.G."

Penelope smirks, "Fair point. So do you wanna go?"

Hope bites on her bottom lip and silently ponders if she wants to go. Does she though? It has been a long day but what's her alternative? No doubt her new school has already started looking for ways to reach her guardians - which reminds her that she _really_ needs to fill in that paper work - and it's only a matter of time until Marcel finds out and blows up her phone trying to figure out where and how she is. Plus there's the whole issue of Caroline who Hope supposes is her closest thing to a guardian when Marcel leaves in less than a week. It's a wonder that she wasn't at the game today either but Hope supposes that that isn't her problem anymore. Not that it ever was.

Hope makes a noncommittal noise before answering, "Sure."

It's probably a bad idea but sure.

"Great." Penelope says, lifting herself up. "Let's go."

* * *

"Why are you suddenly being so nice to me?" Hope abruptly asks as they're walking in the middle of the square.

"What are you talking about?" Penelope asks, not looking up from Google Maps on her phone. Hope's pretty sure they've been walking in a solid square for the past fifteen minutes but whatever.

"You brought me to the woods, then to your house, then you gave me you're shirt-"

"-Borrowed." Penelope interrupts.

Hope rolls her eyes and continues like she wasn't interrupted. "-And now you're taking me to the movies. What up?"

Penelope halts, looking up at Hope for the first time since they left, "First, I'm always nice."

Hope raises an unconvinced eyebrow at that. Now it's Penelope's turn to roll her eyes, "Okay fine, I'm usually not deliberately malicious...towards you at least. Second, it wasn't like there was anywhere else we could really go unless you would've preferred being stuck at the Salvatore School. You know, the place where someone threw a blood balloon at you. Third, I have no clue where you live. Fourth, it's literally October, do you think it would have been wise to leave in a soaking wet shirt? I was trying to save us a trip to the emergency room from you're imminent case of hypothermia. Fifth, who doesn't like the movies? And sixth, is it me or have we been walking in a solid square?"

Hope takes a second to collect her thoughts because she wasn't expecting an actual answer. Never mind something that long. It was usually just riddles and snarky retorts. "Um, yes to that last one but as for everything else...why do you care? I thought you just wanted to watch the world burn."

_Why was her world the exception? Granted her world had burned to ashes ages ago but still._

Penelope actually seems to chew on her words for a minute before answering. That might've been the first time Hope's seen her hesitate with her words. "Sometimes I like to extinguish disasters instead."

And the riddles are back but Hope is pretty sure that this one is about her so for some reason she lets it go.

"You do realize that the movie theater you're looking for is like three blocks that way." Hope says, pointing to a direction west of her and effectively changing the topic. Penelope follows it gracefully.

"You couldn't have told me that half a square ago?"

"I did. You didn't listen to me."

"You were speaking before? I had headphones in."

Hope rolls her eyes before turning in a different direction to lead the way. "Come on."

* * *

When Hope sits down in her movie seat with no snacks or drink (she's lost her appetite for the day. Especially anytime she looks at her hands) it occurs to her that she has no idea what movie she's about to watch. She kind of just left it to Penelope and followed her lead. Metaphorically of course. Physically, Penelope sucked with directions. Hope just wants it to be anything but sci-fi.

Nothing much happens during the beginning. She gets through the previews pretty contentedly even with Penelope's obnoxious slurping with her drinks.

No, things only go to shit when the movie is about fifteen minutes in.

Hope isn't entirely sure what happened. One minute she's watching a car chase and the next she's reliving moments of her childhood. Everything gets blurry in Hope's eyes as the line between reality and her imagination gets funnier. Suddenly the movie she's watching turns into a major motion picture of her life. All the nitty, gritty parts of it. Hope vaguely wonders what rating it would be if her life was a movie. Her parents are dead, both of them leaving this earth in a gruesome way. Her Uncle Elijah followed suit thanks to his never ending devotion to his brother (a hot, and sometimes, _taboo_ whispered discussion around the community which, you know, _ew_ ). Uncle Finn had died long before she could form any memories of him, also a violent death. Though perhaps the lack of memories was a good thing as not many family members had good things to say about Uncle Finn as he had few redeeming qualities that rarely showed themselves especially around family. If Uncle Finn was even considered family at this point because he might've been labeled a traitor for some reason. Due to the more lucrative, if not entirely law abiding, side of her family's business, trust and loyalty were essentially and Uncle Finn had proven himself to have neither qualities when it came to the Mikaelsons despite he too being one. Hope was still a little hazy on those details since eavesdropping can only give so much information and _no one_ told her _anything_. It was quite annoying. The only family member that treated her like an adult was Uncle Kol. He had been seen as sort of the black sheep of the family and he embraced that title with pride. He was the uncle that encouraged Hope's impulsive, rambunctious - or as Uncle Kol would like to call it, entrepreneurial - decisions which led to some very bad choices made in the not so distant past. Maybe if Hope had listened to her mother, or followed her Aunt Rebekah's example or just _stayed the hell away_ from Aunt Freya's wife's medical kits she wouldn't be in the predicament she was in now.

It didn't matter what her dad or her brother or anyone said, Hope knew that everything from her parents dying to her own arrest was her fault. She'd tried to place the blame on someone else. Uncle Elijah was more than ready to handle that guilt-ridden responsibility and for a little while that worked. But overtime the constant flickers of guilt and blame kept bubbling up inside her and it nearly consumed her. That, she reflects bitterly, was one of the darkest times in her seventeen years of living. But at least she'd have more years of living. Unlike Henry. Poor Henry, who just wanted to know what it was like to fly.

But people can't fly.

They can fall though.

They can fall very far, very fast.

And it's at this moment that Hope really wishes that she didn't put that thought, that image back in her head because it usually lasted for days (it used to be weeks) afterwards. Months later and Hope still can't get the sight of his broken body out of her hea-

 _"ENOUGH."_ Hope chastises herself. It would do no good to have another breakdown in the movie theater. She looks over to Penelope who looks throughly engrossed in the movie and her popcorn. At least one of them is having fun. 

 _"Rated R."_ Hope randomly thinks, confusing even herself until she remembers the question she asked herself early. If her life were a movie it would most certainly be Rated R. Hope sinks deeper into her reclining seat trying to lose herself in the noise of the movie despite the plot being lost to her now.

She knew going to the movies would end up being a bad idea.

* * *

Hours later after the movie had finished and Hope had someone gotten Penelope to go home with promises of returning the shirt Hope stumbled into Caroline's home with a headache and a great urge to sleep. She was often left tired these days. Not the sleepy, went to bed to late last night kind of tired but the type you can feel in your bones.

Once upon a time Hope thought she was too young to feel anything that deep, in her bones and such, now she just wishes she didn't feel anything at all.

_Uh-oh. Dangerous waters. Better stay clear of that mindset._

"Where the hell have you been?" Marcel's deep and pissed voice cuts through her like a hammer on glass. She thinks she even jumps a bit.

"What?" Hope asks stupidly prompting Marcel to get up from where he's sitting and march over to her. He's oozing righteous fury and in the corner of her eyes Hope can see Caroline hovering behind him with guilt clouding her face. Hope can tell that she wants to help but doesn't know how to or even if she should. Hope doesn't know what to do with that information. She'll deal with it later. She'll deal with everything later.

"I said, where the hell have you been?" Marcel repeats. On a normal day Hope would hesitate and think about telling the truth usually choosing to tell a half-truth or a flat out lie instead but today was just too much for her and she spills almost immediately. 

"Penelope invited me to the movies after the game where I made the winning goal and got rewarded with a face full of red paint thrown at me by my former classmates. What a card they are and before you ask, no I don't think it was that good of a movie." Hope admits and Marcel blanks. Hope can tell that he had entire speech and was ready to lay it down on her but was clearly not expecting that answer. She's not even sure that he was expecting to hear the truth in the first go.

"Is that all?" Hope quietly asks after a beat. Her former bravado is gone and she can't even make herself look Marcel in the eyes.

"...No." Marcel answers and Hope wonders what else she could possibly be in trouble for before he's gently pulling her into a hug. It's sweet even if the reasons for said hug are so bitter. Huh. Bittersweet. It's not a joke (certainly not a funny one) and it brings tears to Hope's eyes.

"Oh," Hope starts off shakily, "I-I'm okay. You don't have to-"

"No, this hug isn't for you." Marcel interrupts not unkindly and whispers the next part so low that Hope nearly misses it, "It's for me. I kinda needed it."

It's one of those rare moments where the two siblings are more afraid of being alone with their thoughts than being vulnerable. Hope doesn't know what's going through Marcel's head but she hopes that it's not haunting him like her thoughts haunt her. Silently, the two of them embrace each other in the middle of Caroline's living room looking and enjoying their moment of comfort.

Hope hears the creak in the floor before her voice.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt." It's Caroline and she's holding Marcel's buzzing phone. The two siblings separate and Hope wipes away tears that she didn't even know she had, never mind spilled. Caroline strides over to Marcel to hand him his phone and Hope feels an irrational stab of jealously at Caroline's long legs compared to her smaller ones. She's always hated being short. And she especially hated people reminding her how short she was.

"It's been going off like crazy." Caroline says. Marcel sighs and breaks away from Hope to pick up the phone. It looks like he's aged decades in just a few minutes. 

"I'll be right back I gotta take this." Marcel announces before exiting the room, leaving behind only Hope, Caroline and the painfully uncomfortable silence. Sometimes Hope wonders if she has enhanced senses. Like those superheroes she likes to read and watch about. She certainly has the tragic backstory to fit the bill. But seriously, in certain situations it's like all of her senses are super-charged. Right now Hope swears she can hear Caroline's heartbeat over her quiet but labored breaths. Or maybe that's her own heartbeat. Either way, she's tired of hearing it already.

"Well I'm gonna go." Hope says as politely as she can while gesturing to ~~her~~ , ~~Caroline's~~ , _her_ room.

"Wait!" Caroline calls out and Hope has to fight the urge to sigh. A big part of the reason why Hope tries to be nice to Caroline, or a least less rude than usual, is because along with give her room and board, Hope also knows that Caroline and her dad had some...thing going on between them well before they were born. If her dad respected her, and better yet, _liked_ her - and didn't like a lot of people...or respect - then there had to be something borderline magical about her.

"I wanted to see how you were doing. I heard about what happened at school today." Caroline mentions cautiously, like one wrong phrase is enough to make Hope break. Break, no. Run away? Maybe.

Hope actually mulls over her words for a moment because she truly has no idea what to say. She could say the truth but that requires old, trauma-filled memories and she's determined to not think about that for her own sanity. She could lie but for some reason Hope feels that Caroline can hear her heartbeat just as well as she can hear hers and Hope doesn't feel like being called out for lying. Not to mention that she could just get the story from her daughters if she hasn't already.

"It is what it is." Hope eventually says, lamely, shrugging while she does so. That's really starting to become a habit. Caroline walks closer to her, close enough that Hope can see her eyes when she looks up. Has she mentioned that she sometimes really hates being so short?

"No." Caroline objects so fiercely that it actually shocks Hope for a second. She knows Caroline's nice and all but she also knows that Hope only gets away with being...Hope because of her and Caroline's connection to her late father. It's all one big mess really. It's part of why it's so hard for Hope to call her Ms. Forbes, Mrs. Forbes-Salvatore, hell, even Mrs. Forbes-Mikaelson if they lived in another timeline or world.

"That shouldn't have happened to you and rest assured I will find the students responsible and make sure they face the repercussions for what they've done." Caroline continues and it's the most adult like thing Hope thinks she's ever heard...from Caroline that is. Before Hope can even try to formulate a response to that her brother walks back into the room looking more weary and withdrawn than he did leaving.

He asks Caroline to leave the room. 

She complies.

He asks Hope to sit down.

She complies.

Long story short: he's leaving. Tonight. Right now. To deal with an emergency in New Orleans (her home) because he's the Mayor and it's what Mayor's do she supposes. As Hope makes peace with the fact that she isn't going to be going to bed anytime soon she ~~slowly~~ , numbly, follows Caroline and Marcel to Caroline's car. She's dropping him off at the airport. How nice. The drive is long and silent but not awkward thank God. She is so over things being awkward. It is sad though or at least it will be when Hope snaps out of this desensitized state she's in. When they reach the airport they go through all the basic customs that take a little longer than necessary to go through due to Marcel being side eyed by some of the employees and his bag being "randomly selected" for a bag check. Hope, Marcel and Caroline stare down the employee so hard that he actually begins to sweat a bit. Hope doesn't know how the other two are feeling but she's feels just a tad bit satisfied.

The hard part should be saying goodbye. It isn't. That comes later. Right now, at the gates, Marcel pulls her in for one last, long hug and tells her to at least try and stay out of trouble and if she ever needs him for anything, anything at all, he'll be back for her in a flash. 

She sort of, kind of needs him right now. But she sort of, kind of doesn't. She knows what she signed up for when she agreed to return to Mystic Falls.

They stop hugging and Caroline puts a hand on Hope's shoulder. The action surprises her a bit because she had forgotten that Caroline was even there. The two ladies watch as Marcel slowly walks away and disappears into the crowd.

And he's gone.

* * *

 

This is the hard part.

And it hits Hope like a truck.

Caroline and her are driving back in pure silence once again when they reach a red light in the middle of traffic. Hope subconsciously makes the mistake of looking over at the passengers seat where Marcel sat just moments ago. Painfully her brain thinks, _"There goes the last piece of family I had. I really am alone now huh?"_

And it's irrationally and dumb because Hope knows that she could call her brother or any of her still living relatives to come get her. But it doesn't stop her from crying and after the day she's had Hope think's she's earned it. She tries to be quiet but Hope knows Caroline can hear her yet the older lady doesn't say anything.

Hope's never been more grateful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Biya. Thanks for all the comments and kudos.

**Author's Note:**

> Just wanna spread some Handon love. No shade to your other ships.


End file.
